1978-January-20

Bialian News

The Clear Evidence: Part 1

Imam W. D. Muhammad

With the Name Allah (in the Name of God), the Gracious, the Compassionate.

As-Salaam-Alaikum

(Editor's note: The following article was taken from Friday Jumah Service, July 29, 1977, Masjid Elijah Muhammad No. 2)

All praises due to Allah, the Lord and Sustainer of all the Worlds. I bear witness openly that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah alone and there is nothing like unto Him and I bear witness openly that Muhammad is His slave servant and His Messenger.

May peace and blessings of Allah be upon Prophet Muhammad, and upon his descendants, upon the companions, and righteous servants, all of them be peace, and upon us oh, Muslims.

Dear beloved people, brothers and sisters, As-Salaam-Alaikum.

I received a letter from a sister Muslim in Philadelphia and she was confused, spiritually confused. She asked me to speak on the difference in the belief the Qur'an gives us and the belief that the Bible gives us on Adam and Eve. She said that she "read both in the Qur'an and in the Bible," and she says that she "sees no difference." Well, there is a great difference.

There is a lot of likeness, similarity, but there is also a great difference. The Qur'an does not teach us that Eve was created from a rib of Adam. The Qur'an mentions this creation, and it says that not Eve, but man, human beings are created from a thick fluid, watery fluid that issues from between the loins and the rib. This corrects that kind of concept that woman is made from a rib of man. There is a lot of difference between the two. And the Qur'an does not blame Eve or woman for the sins of man. The Qur'an puts the sin on the sinner. So there is a lot of difference.

I thought that I would comment on that and hope that these comments will be one day put in the Bilalian News as an article, as part of the article. So, not only that sister, but many others who have the same kind of confusion, who are bothered with that kind of confusion will come to the right understanding.

The Qur'an is the light. Light of understanding and the Qur'an is called Al-Bayyan, the Clear Evidence. Also Prophet Muhammad, Peace and Blessings be upon him, is called the Clear Evidence. In the Qur'an, Allah says that, the people did not become divided until the clear evidence came to them. And it says a Messenger from Allah, reciting to them clear scripture. Here in the verse from the Qur'an Allah is making it clear to us in the religion, who have not understood what it means by light coming to the world. That one day the light would shine all over the world.

The last Book of the Bible called Revelation, gives a picture of the world as a world all lit with light. And that light is not the light of the Sun, nor the Moon, so the Bible says. But it is a light that comes from individuals, from the leader, from the community. It is a light that's just bursting forth out of the community and out of the people. And this is the light of truth. It's a prediction that one day, the light of truth will come. And when the light of truth comes, it vanishes all darkness as the scripture says.

Jesus himself appeared as light according to the scripture So this is not some kind of mysterious light, or unnatural light. It simply means, the light of clear understanding. And Prophet Muhammad, when he brought the Clear Evidence that God had revealed to him in the form of Quranic teachings, then Prophet Muhammad became the light among the people, clear light among the people—evidence, proof. Those who embraced that truth, who believe in it, and who themselves live it, they also shine with the light of that new faith, and that truth. If the society embraces that truth and lives by that truth, then that society becomes a society of light. The light of clear understanding.

This is fulfilling the Bible, Revelations, where it says that "a City" came down from the Sky It means that God is going to reveal this truth for society. A City came down from the Sky and that city was all light. Light issued from the faces of the people and the whole city was all light.

The big problem in life for anybody and everybody is finding truth. If we don't find truth, our lives remain a burdensome life. A burdensome life, we just frustrate ourselves more and more as we get away from the truth. Pretty soon life becomes so frustrating that some of us wish that we were dead or asleep. So we take liquors, we take drugs, we do everything to kill the mind in hopes that we won't be bothered by the realities that we are confronted with But this condition will never come on a true believer. It will never come on a hard working Muslim. He's never frustrated. Everyday he wakes up with new courage, with new energy, renewed desire to meet the society and to increase the good in his life, and in the life of the society.

So why should we suffer in this modern society? Why should we suffer depression? Why should we suffer frustration? We shouldn't have to suffer those things. All we have to do is to embrace truth and follow the guidance of Allah and Allah will guide us into a new life. We will never be frustrated, we will never be depressed, to the point that we despair. The whole life will be an opportunity for increased growth and increased excellence. When we don't look at the life in the right way and follow falsehood, then the life becomes a depressing life.

I believe the number one disease in modern society is depression. The people have more now than ever before in terms of worldly knowledge and in terms of material wealth. But there is less stable happiness. The people are confused and burdened by so many questions of human nature, and can't enjoy the material benefits or the material abundance that has been brought about by man. God says that, "Whoever seeks Him for the sake of pleasing Him, then He will reward them with happiness, a true happiness. A happiness that is called paradise." Only God can reward us with real happiness. "Well, I am going to be a doctor of medicine I am going to be a philosopher or mathematician, I am going to be the best singer, the best dancer the best boxer." We can say this, and we may accomplish, but there is no guarantee that we are going to be happy. Truth dictates that we acknowledge  a  creator being over our  lives and over this creation.

All praise is due Allah. Allah has shown us the way, and there is no need for us to be unhappy. There is no need for our children to be mentally burdened and driven by crime or by laziness or by destruction. There is no need for this. If we study the Qur'an, if we live the life of Muslims, we find that there are solutions for all our problems. Whenever you see a person suffering a lot of hardships and a lot of difficulty, it's because they are not putting their attention where it should be. They are not giving their attention to the guidance of God. Allah's guidance just won't leave us like that. Even failure in a financial venture should not bring our lives to a state of misery or gloom. We should still have faith, we should still have the energy to keep up our livelihood, because Islam makes it possible for us to derive strength and satisfaction from so many things that are more superior, than the mere physical accomplishment.

To be happy, no one has to have a million dollars in the bank. No one has to have a Mercedes Benz. If you got the desire to live, and the desire to please Allah, the desire to spread goodness, and knowledge to others, you got an occupation —you got a job You are never unemployed. And whether you make a hundred dollars a day or no dollar, you won't fall down in the street, kick your heels up like a little baby in a tantrum (crying). You will still be marching on. As long as we eat enough to keep the pains of hunger down and we dress good enough so that we can go outside and not be shamed —you don't have to have mink, silk, sequins, diamonds As long as you are dressed clean and you are neat, you shouldn't be ashamed If we get all of these false ideas about success, about superiority or dignity, those false ideas will become slave masters and deprive you of ever having happiness. We won't be able to be happy with ourselves, with our wives, with our husbands, with our children. We won't be able to be happy with anybody And that's a hell. When a person can't find happiness anywhere, can't find peace, with his associates, with his family, with his wife, with his children, with members of the society and even when he is alone that is hell.

We can escape that if we just live natural human lives. It took the Creator himself, who created the human being, designed the human life and set it on the road towards its excellence—it took Him, Himself, to show us just what is the-human life.

If we go to these philosophies, if we listen to these philosophers, they tell you, "yes, be positive, be positive and pretty soon that word has no more meaning than happiness and love. And they preached happiness and love until they preached us sick. And they will be preaching positiveness until they preach us crazy.

So let us follow the guidance of-God, that is the only thing that can save us.   It  saved  us  thousands  of years ago, and it will save us now Allah is Greater.